Chapter 38 – The Power Of Love? (2)
We were in the salon on the second floor where I spoke with Gerald last time.
I went near the piano and sat down. I didn’t have the confidence to face him like before. At this distance, I thought that Gerard would listen to me calmly. He came in and took a seat by the door.
“I apologize. I was selfish.”
Gerard folded his arms at my words. Then he looked at me with his back buried deep on the sofa.
“I was irresponsible to Theodor, the Shlezen household, and also to you.”
“If you know, then leave. Before there are any more attachments.”
I must be the very first person Theodor got attached to. It would be too cruel to cut off such first love like this.
“When the curse of Theodor is lifted and he’s ready to let me go, then I will leave.”
But Gerard didn’t answer.
“Of course, if you have someone you love, I will actively support you. To make Theo like them. But if they abuse Theo, I will protect him.”
I said the last part with Molli in mind. Gerard frowned.
“Why do you care so much about the grand prince?”
“Because he looks lonely.”
“…!”
“I want him to know a lot of fun and amazing things.”
“Why is that?”
“I was alone, too. People don’t know how hard it is to be alone,” I said, recalling the memories of the abuse Sinclair had suffered. If she hadn’t been abused, if she had had at least one person to listen to her, she wouldn’t have been so diligent in carrying out the orders of the Owens and the emperor.
“I have a question for you.”
“…?”
“You… you didn’t try to get a divorce because you had a man you loved?”
“Pardon?” I looked at him startled. “A man?”
I hit my forehead with one hand.
“Oh gosh. Did you think that I asked for a divorce because I had a person I love?”
“I did.”
“Ha… Are you perhaps a philanthropist?”
“…?”
“We have an arranged marriage. Isn’t it impossible for aristocratic society to divorce someone just because they love someone else?”
At my words, Gerard coughed.
“I’m not a philanthropist, I’m a perfectionist. To be my wife there must be no other man next to her.”
“Ah…”
‘What’s that? Does that mean that even if you have another woman, I can’t? Seems like a losing business? Well, now is not the time to ask that.’
“I understand. I won’t mind another man until I am divorced.”
“Good.”
Gerard tried to get up.
“But uum… I’m just curious. Do you know that a person’s love for someone is not created or lost just by trying hard, right?”
“…?”
“No, I mean, I will try my best not to fall in love with any man, but if, hypothetically, I like someone. I was wondering if you could close your eyes on that.”
“Hmm… Absolutely not.”
Gerard was adamant.
‘Woah, so cheap…’
“I’ll try my best. But even if it happens I’ll do my best not to make it obvious. In that case, I’d like you to do me the favor of turning a blind eye.”
I think I’m being too obsequious. Thinking of Nanny Molli… I wondered if I even needed to do this.
“Don’t want to.”
Then Gerald left.
Ha… The hurdle of divorce has been overcome, but what is this annoyance?
* * *
Gerard was happy as he carried Theodor in one hand and the teddy bear in the other.
‘So she didn’t have a man…’
The corners of his lips rose on their own.
“Father.”
Gerard quickly lowered his head. Theodor was awake.
“Are you really going to divorce stepmother?”
“Mh?”
Gerard looked at Theodor, bewildered.
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“But until I grow up, von’t.”
“Why?”
“Because when I grow up, I will marry stepmother.”
Oh gosh… Gerard couldn’t ignore the last words of Theodor’s shocking confession.
* * *
Demon Realm. Rurarisa’s Castle.
Rurarisa and Curtis, the broker, couldn’t sleep after finding out about his own heart.
To fall in love with a mere human… But that person preferred that red-eyed, skinny boy who was younger than him. The more he thought about it, the more upset he got.
‘How can I win her heart?’ His head hurt and his heart ached as he wondered how he could be loved more than that little brat.
‘Ah, I should have made an appointment to meet you again!’
“Ah! So annoying!”
In the end, Rurarisa, the Third Holy Saint of the demons, could not sleep that night.
* * *
Theodor’s bedroom. Shlezen Castle.
Gerard gently laid Theodor on the bed and covered him with a blanket. But he looked at him with eyes sparkling like red pomegranates.
“What?”
“Can’t I sweep in the annex? I’ll wake today.”
Gerard was bewildered by Theodor’s small protest. He was a child who had never asked for anything in his life. Wasn’t he just a child who was quietly and silently learning what to do as a Grand Prince?
“Do you like your stepmother that much?”
“Of cuush. Stepmotho is smart and pretty.”
“That’s why you want to marry her?”
Then Theodor’s cheeks became red. Gerard felt dizzy. First, she captured the heart of an arrogant demon named Curtis, and now she took this young Theodor’s heart.
If so, was the cry from earlier a means to win Grand Duchess’ heart? Hmm, no matter how young the heart, he needed to set a boundary.
“Your stepmother is my wife, so stop thinking about getting married when you grow up.”
“No. Fatho married books?”
“…?”
“So Theodod is lonely too.”
“…?”
“Stemotho is lonely too.”
“…!”
To be honest, he didn’t think Theodor would be lonely. Because he had a tight schedule as a Grand Prince. But Sinclair would be lonely. Gerard was perplexed.
‘Did she ever feel lonely after she got married?’ She seemed to have full days as she met her subordinates and was doing something?
“Then Theodod will become stepmotho huzban who has grown up, and I make her happy.”
Theodor’s eyes blazed like the sun rising in the dawn. Gerard couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry in this situation.
‘Did she look unhappy?’ The time he spent with her flashed through his head.
‘Hmm… Things that made her happy… there were none…’
“So you’re telling me to take good care of her until you grow up?”
“Yees. It vil be bothorsome if others touch her.”
“Ha…”
‘I can’t believe he meant something like that…’
“I can’t allow that.”
Theodor’s eyes blinked as fast as a flashing traffic light.
“Because your stepmother is my wife no matter what.”
Moreover, it was absolutely impossible for Gerard, who was quite upright, to ignore the pledge he took upon their marriage. ‘Until death sets us apart.’
Nevertheless, he felt a sense of crisis. Earlier, his head was pounding because of some demon who appeared out of the blue, but now even his young nephew coveted her. He couldn’t let it happen. Gerard’s steps quickened. Theodor pouted as Gerard left the room. He was determined to marry Sinclair, no matter what anyone said. He took out his diary from its secret place.
It was a diary he had drawn before he even met Sinclair. He looked pleased at the first page’s picture. The crooked painting was a copy of Sinclair’s portrait. And then an image of Sinclair lying on a chair as if fainting in the wedding’s waiting room, and Sinclair dancing in the middle of the banquet hall. The background was filled with a bunch of pale pink fluorescent flowers like Sinclair’s eyes. It was clumsy, but it was a work drawn with his whole heart.
Theodor opened a white page in front of him and began to write in clumsy handwriting. After writing ‘stepmother,’ he wrote an X on ‘make stepmother wife,’ then again he wrote an X and then wrote ‘do well.’
‘What should I do well first?’ Theodor pondered for long, puffing his round cheeks like a pale pink peach.
‘Hmm… swod.’
It was embarrassing that he couldn’t protect his stepmother in front of the monsters last time.
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‘Rather, Stepmom saved me…’
He needed to build up his strength right away.
‘And I van to do a givt for stepmom who cooks delicious food. Vat shood be?’
Again, that night became long for Theodor who thought deeply about his stepmother.
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